10% of diabetics die within days of being hospitalised: Study

PARIS:One in 10 diabetics with coronavirus dies within seven days of hospital admission, according to a study of more than 1,300 patients published on Friday in the journal Diabetologia.

Two-thirds of the patients were men, and the average age across both sexes was 70, the study found. “The presence of diabetic complications and increased age increase the risk of death,” the researchers said in a statement.

“Increased BMI” - body mass index, a ratio of height to weight “is associated with both increased risk of needing mechanical ventilation and with increased risk of death,” they said. Worse blood sugar control in and of itself, however, did not seem to impact a patient’s outcome.

So-called microvascular complications - affecting the eyes, kidney and nerves - were found in nearly half of the patients, who were admitted to 53 French hospitals from March 10 to March 31.

Problems related to larger arteries in the heart, brain and legs were reported in more than 40% of the patients.

The presence of either type of complication doubled the risk of death by the seventh day of hospitalisation.

Patients over 75 years old were 14 times more likely to die than those 55 or younger.